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Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Classism, Deportation
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
One thing that really bothered me was the argument that kept getting used by the soldiers to justify their actions. Various soldiers and even characters who weren't planet side were basically saying that the citizens of Kerenza IV deserved what was happening to them (they were being starved, murdered, and sexually harassed by the soldiers) because they were there on the planet holding an illegal mining operation in the first place. That' is a BS argument and justification and I wanted to scratch my eyes out every time I heard someone say "but the citizens were here illegally anyways."
The book is long ending at 615 pages and there were some parts that seemed to drag on and on. I honestly don't think the story could have been any shorter because we would have ended up not getting certain information that was vital to the story. I understand why it was as long as it was, I just needed the boring parts to not be so boring.
Overall this book did not disappoint. This was an action packed sci fi and I'm happy I read the series. I give this 5 out of 5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I listened to this audiobook for free on Libbyapp.com
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, War
Moderate: Torture, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment
Minor: Confinement, Grief
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Suicide
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War
This was the dynamic finale I expected from this series, but it just didn't *hit* like the others. I think part of the problem is that the irreverent humour and liveliness with which the narrative parts are presented seem particularly incongruous in this section, mixed up as they were with detailed descriptions of straight up genocide so like. There was that.
I did like the themes of conscience, consciousness and humanity (a staple theme in scifi) but I'm a little disappointed too that we didn't get to see the larger ramifications of the Kerenza IV conviction. The whole series harps on about how complex and redeemable humanity is, so making the Big Bad just..... a woman..... and to suggest on top of that that she is somehow less redeemable than the soldiers who actually committed the heinous war crimes she ordered them to seems to be a little bit abortive. Where is the systemic analysis here? The logical conclusion of the arguments the whole series makes seems to be that capitalism is the real evil - through this lens, slapping some corporate head honchos with a guilty verdict hardly seems to qualify as the justice owed to the Kerenzan refugees.
Maybe that's a lot to ask of a series like this, but it just didn't sit right with me.
Despite all these complaints (and a lamentable dearth of queer characters, like wtf was with that??? Three central couples and all of them hetero????), I really loved this series. Kaufman and Kristoff really do The Most with form, and I think it's brilliantly executed. Found footage is an absolute FAVE of mine, conceptually speaking, but I often find the actual works hard to digest (lookin @ you, shaky cam footage), but the frame narrative drew everything together neatly here. AIDAN was a particular favourite of mine, because it added a really excellent element of exisistential dread all the way through the series (and because I am a SUCKER for a what-makes-us-human AI plotline). Most impressively, I my opinion, is that the threads of emotional anguish stayed taut throughout even the most clusterfucky action sequences and I think that's a really hard line to walk without becoming heavy-handed. I found this particularly incisive because of the way that aligned with the goals of the Illuminae Group - I'm thinking specifically of the choice, both by the authors and by Kady & co., to include the notes from Dr. Grant - seemingly irrelevant to the narrative itself but serving a particular persuasive purpose in the context of the court case.
Anyway this is the longest review I've written in approximately 1 million years so I guess it deserves recognition for causing a stir in my cold, dead heart.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Genocide
Minor: Confinement, Sexual harassment